Over the last decade, there has been a substantial increase in the use and deployment of wireless client devices, from dual-mode smartphones to tablets capable of operating in accordance with a particular Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard. With “wireless” becoming the de-facto medium for connectivity among users, it has become increasingly important for network systems to intelligently manage connections.
In some environments, multiple access points and network controllers may be deployed to handle clients and customers in various areas. Each of these access points and network controllers may independently perform operations or tasks for associated client devices. For example, in a tunnel mode, a network controller may perform encryption/decryption tasks for an associated client device. In contrast, in a de-tunnel mode, an access point may perform these encryption/decryption tasks for the client device. Similarly, Media Access Control Service Data Unit (MSDU) processing tasks (e.g., encapsulation, decapsulation, and aggregation), multicast optimization (e.g., dynamic multicast-unicast conversion and rate control), and other types of tasks may be performed by either an access point or a network controller in a network decision. Traditionally, the decision of which device performs each task is pre-determined and remains static during operation of the network system.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.